If you have discussed your investments with a financial planner from The Financial Advisors Association of Canada, chances are your advisor has suggested segregated funds. But what are seg funds and how do they differ from traditional mutual funds?

A seg fund is actually an insurance contract with two parts: an investment that produces the return and an insurance policy that covers the risk. The seg fund is like a mutual fund, because you are pooling your money with other people to share investment gains. But because life insurance companies issue segregated funds, there is a guarantee attached that protects the investor’s principal from sudden market declines. Think of such an investment as a mutual fund with a safety net.

A built-in guarantee
Insurance companies are required by law to build added protection into investment products. Seg fund policies guarantee that most of your initial investment is protected in the event of death or at the time of maturity. Depending on the provider, this guarantee may vary from 75 to 100 per cent of the principal amount.

For example, if you invested $25,000 in a 10-year seg fund policy with a 100 per cent guarantee, you would receive your initial investment plus profits made from market gains at the time of maturity. If the value of the seg fund policy has fallen below $25,000 at maturity, the principal remains protected. You can periodically “lock in” the protection on the principal when the policy has escalated in value. This resets your 10-year guarantee period.

History of segregated funds
Seg funds were first introduced by insurance companies more than 30 years ago as a fixed income product for pension funds. Later they were offered to investors as a creditor-proof investment. Although they invested in stock markets, they were considered to be conservative products very prudently managed.

In the late 1990s, mutual fund companies began teaming up with insurers to boost the investment return potential. Seg funds began to look more like mutual funds, with sectoral funds, index funds, and foreign funds added to the mix of investments. As interest rates dropped, more conservative investors moved from term deposits and GICs into seg funds because of the guarantees.

Seg fund or mutual fund
Whether a particular seg fund is any more or less attractive than a mutual fund, however, will depend on your personal circumstances, and the investment strategy that you have worked out with your Advocis financial advisor.

Like mutual funds, segregated funds contain a diversified group of solid investments. They come in various sizes and asset mixes, and benefit from the experience of a qualified portfolio manager. Where the two types of funds part company is in flexibility and the added cost of insuring the principal.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners may want to consider the potential creditor protection offered by seg fund policies. Because they are insurance policies, they enjoy creditor protection under provincial insurance legislation.

The cost of a guarantee
While a disciplined, long-term approach to the market is always advised, a guarantee is not for everybody. Some investors may not want to incur the added cost of guaranteeing the principal invested in a seg fund. That cost varies depending on the insurance company.

Some seg funds have higher management expense ratios than mutual funds. Some guarantee only 75% of principal, to keep the MER lower. Some make the 100% guarantee an option that the consumer can pay for.

Some investors see such a guarantee as unnecessary since it is highly unlikely that market values will be lower than the principal investment over any 10-year period. Others view the added cost as an investment in peace of mind.

Seg fund advantages
There are other advantages to a seg fund policy.

One is the reset option. As a seg fund investor, you can protect profits inside the fund. What it does is allow fundholders to lock in gains when market values are high. If, for example, your $50,000 seg fund policy has increased in value by $11,000, you can use the reset option to protect the full $61,000. Once again, the reset option is not for everybody since it also resets the 10-year clock on the fund’s guarantee.

Seg fund policies are also a solid estate planning tool. Upon death, the market value or the guaranteed principal is paid out directly to the beneficiary without being subject to provincial probate fees.

I want to file my taxes and get my refund, but I’m still waiting for tax slips for a few REITs and ETFs that I own. Shouldn’t I have this information by now?

Not necessarily. Different types of tax slips have different mailing deadlines.

T5 slips – which report dividend and interest income – were supposed to be mailed out by the end of February, so you should have these by now.

But T3 slips – which report distributions from income trusts (including real estate investment trusts), exchange-traded funds and mutual funds – have a deadline of March 31. So it could be a week or more before they land in your mailbox. T3s for REITs and ETFs are sent by your broker, whereas T3s for mutual funds are mailed directly by the fund company.

Occasionally, tax slips are delayed, however.

My discount broker, BMO InvestorLine, says on its website that it will “make every effort to ensure that tax slips are mailed by the date indicated; however, in the event that an issuer does not supply us with the necessary information in time, tax slips will be processed on an individual security basis and mailed as soon as the information is made available.”

I had a quick look on the websites of three ETF providers – iShares, BMO and Horizons – and the 2014 tax information has already been posted. I also checked the websites of three REITs – RioCan, Canadian REIT and Calloway – and they have also published the 2014 tax breakdowns for their distributions. So if you want to crunch the numbers yourself, you can. But to avoid mistakes on your return, you might want to wait until the official T3 slips arrive.

In the meantime, if you’re using tax software, you can always complete the rest of your return and then spend a couple of minutes entering the information from your T3 slips when they arrive. That way you’ll still get your return in long before the April 30 deadline.

There are ideological and social drivers that are unique to every single one of these things, and yet there is a common thread that ties them together. I call this trend “anti-spendism”.

Anti-spendism is not necessarily a social movement that is tied to the betterment of society as a whole. It’s not like socialism or communism, where we are talking about a desire to more equitably distribute wealth to the have-nots.

It is by definition, the personal, self-centered desire not to expend capital at all. Or to put a more modern take on it, rapid advances in technology have so lowered our perceptions of what things should cost, that ultimately many goods and services have become devalued far below what people are willing to pay for them.

If you’re visiting a friend’s cottage this summer, here are a few tips that will be sure to create lasting memories for everyone: Bring four very large suitcases (store one in each bedroom if necessary), bring at least two dogs (those with digestive problems are best), start a fire (preferably outside the cottage, and big enough to burn a picnic table), roast marshmallows (bring those mini ones with toothpicks and see who can stand the heat) and scare the kids (ghost stories to give them nightmares for three days can add to the fun).

Maternity leave income is not taxable. “You are required to report your EI benefits as income. In most cases, Service Canada withholds less than the lowest tax rate so you may have tax obligations at the end of the year.

RRSP contributions do not have to be reported if I do not use the deduction. “Even if you are not claiming a deduction for the contributions you made in the year, you are still required to record the fact that you made them. So all your contributions from March 2, 2012 until March 1, 2013 should be recorded on your 2012 tax return.”

Tips are not considered income. “Servers and others working in the hospitality industry are required to record and report their tips on their tax return. For servers, tips may be as much as 200-400 per cent of their income.”

Students get refunds on their tuition. “In order to receive a tax refund, you need to have overpaid your income tax during the year. If a student does not have taxable income, they cannot use their tuition and education credits on their return. They have the option to transfer up to $5,000 to a parent, grandparent or spouse or they can carry forward credits to use in future year.”

Mothers are required to claim the children first. “The lower income spouse is required to claim childcare expenses whether it is the mother or father. Either parent can claim the child tax credit.”

I earned less than $10,000 so I do not have to file a tax return. “Even if you did not earn more than the $10,822 personal amount, filing a tax return may trigger benefits like the quarterly GST/HST payment. And if you had tax withheld, you should receive a refund.”

I can claim a flat rate amount for my business mileage. “Self-employed Canadians are required to keep a logbook to calculate the auto expenses for their business.”

Child support is a tax deduction. “Unless your agreement is dated before May 1, 1997, child support payments are reported on your tax return but they are not a deduction or included in income.”

If I work outside of the country, I do not need to file a tax return. “The Canadian tax system is based on residency. If you are emigrating, you should indicate your date of exit on your last tax return. If you are working outside of the country but have substantial residential ties to Canada still, you will be required to file a Canadian tax return.”

Mortgage interest is a tax deduction. “Only self-employed Canadians who work from home are allowed to claim a percentage of their mortgage insurance as a business expense. The tax benefit of owning a home comes when you sell. Every Canadian receives a capital gains exemption on the sales of their principal residence.”